


Casual Greetings

by LynsFantasy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Aromantic, Aromantic Asexual Hunk, Aromantic Hunk, Asexual Character, Asexual Hunk (Voltron), Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Platonic Life Partners, Platonic Soulmates, Queerplatonic Relationships, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, implied polyamory, squishes (platonic crushes)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-08 13:24:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21476722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynsFantasy/pseuds/LynsFantasy
Summary: Everyone's soulmark consists of the first words their soulmate will say to them. That's the only way to know who you're destined to be with for life, romantically or otherwise.Hunk's soulmark says the ever-helpful, "Heyyyy, what's up?" He can't just ask every person who greets him like that if there's any chance they could be his soulmate, so what's he supposed to do?
Relationships: Hunk & Lance (Voltron), Hunk/Lance (Voltron) (queerplatonic partnership)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 64





	Casual Greetings

Hunk had never felt more nervous before in his life. It was his first day at the Garrison, and with all these new people and things… he was overwhelmed. On top of that, he had no idea how he’d make any friends here. After all, who’d want to come up and—

“Heyyyy, what’s up?”

—talk to him?

Hunk turned and saw a Latino boy who was probably the same age as him, though a bit shorter and smaller, looking at him with bright blue eyes. Hunk’s heart skipped a beat. The words had been just a casual greeting, but they perfectly matched the ones written in the soulmark on Hunk’s wrist.

“H-hi,” Hunk stammered back, wondering what to do.

The boy’s smile flickered for just a moment before coming back in full force. “My name’s Lance. What’s yours?”

“Hunk.” He tried hard to keep his voice even. There was no way to know if this kid was his soulmate. He needed to stay calm.

“Good to meet you, Hunk!” Lance kept that same bright smile. “Do you wanna hang out? We’ve still got fifteen minutes until orientation starts.”

Hunk offered Lance a small smile of his own. “Yeah, that sounds good to me.”

~*~*~*~

“Heyyyy, what’s up?” Lance’s smooth voice drawled as he flopped down onto the bed across the room from Hunk’s. It was their second semester in the Garrison, and their roommate request had (thankfully) gone through.

“H—” Hunk tried to answer, but his voice caught slightly, so he lightly coughed before finishing the word, “hi.”

Lance gave him an odd look.

“I’m okay,” Hunk reassured him. “Just a little cough.”

“Right, right.” Lance’s easygoing persona was back. “So, you wanna start this semester off right by sneaking out?”

“Laaaaance,” Hunk protested. “We’re going to get in trouble. I don’t want to get in trouble on our _ first day back.” _

“Come on! They’ll never expect us to try to cause mischief on the first night! That’s why we _ should _ go tonight! They’ll never catch us, trust me.” He looked at Hunk with pleading eyes, the blue shimmering like the ocean under an evening sky.

Hunk sighed and gave in. He’d never been good at saying no to Lance, after all.

~*~*~*~

Hunk was lying on his new bed in the Castle, trying to let recent events sink in. He was in space. He was the pilot of a giant yellow robot lion. Okay then.

There was a knock at the door accompanied by a familiar voice and a familiar greeting. “Heyyyy,” Lance drawled, voice drawn out by sleepiness, “what’s up?”

“H-_ hhyyaaawn _-hi,” Hunk yawned back as he opened the door to reveal Lance, who looked nearly as tired as Hunk felt, clad in his new blue-paladin-themed pajamas.

Lance chuckled a little as he looked Hunk up and down, and Hunk suddenly realized that he, too, was only wearing pajamas. “You too, huh? Mind if I come in for a bit?” He sounded casual, but there was something akin to desperation in his eyes.

Hunk stepped aside and waved Lance in. “Rough day,” he commented.

Flopping down on Hunk’s bed, Lance laughed. “What even is a day anymore?”

“True.”

Lance patted the space next to him, and Hunk obliged by lying down, careful not to actually touch Lance despite the narrowness of the bed. Lance quickly made that effort obsolete by scooting over just enough that their shoulders touched. Silence stretched between them for a moment.

“I miss Earth already,” Lance confessed.

“Yeah… me too.”

~*~*~*~

It was almost a running joke now, how Hunk would look for new food ingredients on every new planet they went to.

Unfortunately, it was _ also _ getting to be a running joke now for Hunk to be allergic to about half of the plants that looked edible.

_ Achoo! _ Hunk couldn’t stop sneezing as he sorted through the plants he collected. _ Achoo! Achoo! _ He was getting really annoyed. Each sneeze was deep enough that it hurt his chest and burned in his nose. _ Achoo! _

Eyes watering, Hunk looked up to see Lance hovering at the doorway of the kitchen. “H-h-_ achoo! _ -hi…” He sniffled miserably, trying to stop the itching in his nose.

“Heyyyy,” Lance said softly and sympathetically, “what’s up?”

“Just trying to… _ achoo! _ …trying to… check these…”

“I can finish up,” Lance offered. “Why don’t you go wash up and take a break? Those sneezes sound painful.”

Hunk managed to nod before groaning in pain as the movement aggravated his clogged sinuses. He shuffled out of the room, only glancing back once to see Lance dutifully washing off the collected plants. Something in Hunk’s chest warmed at the sight, and he felt himself smile without meaning to. Ducking his head in case Lance looked over, Hunk headed out of the room.

~*~*~*~

“...so then the Olkari said, ‘That’s what the cube’s for!’” Pidge declared, finishing off a joke with a rather elaborate setup.

Hunk bust out laughing, and he was still chuckling when Lance walked into the room. “H-_ haha _-hi,” Hunk called, gesturing for Lance to come over.

Lance looked between Pidge, who was smirking, and Hunk, who was still laughing, with a bemused expression. “Heyyyy?” he said, uncertainty creeping into his voice and turning the statement into a question. “What’s up?”

“I’m good at jokes,” Pidge proudly proclaimed.

“Oh yeah?” Lance questioned, a challenge in his voice as he sat down next to Hunk.

Pidge nodded confidently and began to tell the joke again for Lance’s benefit, but Hunk wasn’t listening. Instead, he watched Lance’s face, feeling oddly calm when he saw the smile there as Lance listened, and when Lance cracked up, Hunk found himself laughing again just from how contagious Lance’s laughter was. It’d been like that for a long time, he realized. Lance’s mere presence was usually enough to at least somewhat ease his near-constant anxiety, and his delight always cheered Hunk up. He supposed that was the nice thing about having a best friend.

~*~*~*~

They were paladins. They fought against skilled soldiers in an intergalactic military. Something like this was bound to happen… _ but why Lance? _ The paladins were fighting alongside the Blade of Marmora on a mission when it happened.

_ “Lance!” _ Hunk yelled desperately as he watched his best friend crumple to the ground. Recklessly, with no regard for his own safety, Hunk dashed over toward him. In a mere moment, Hunk was at Lance’s side. He immediately turned and started fighting off any enemies that came close.

Shiro made a soft sound over the communicators that almost sounded like a curse. “Allura, cover them!” he yelled.

Hunk defended Lance’s helpless form, waiting for Allura’s backup, when a short Blade of Marmora member made his way over. His small blade was making quick work of their enemies, and Hunk was sure this had to be Keith. Yelling to make himself heard over the general noise of combat, Hunk called, “Keith, I’m going to carry Lance out of here.”

Keith turned toward Hunk as he nodded. “I’ll cover you,” he said, voice distorted by the mask.

Kneeling down, Hunk gently gathered Lance’s lanky form into his arms. Hunk wasn’t sure if it was just the adrenaline, but he could hardly feel Lance’s weight at all. He vaguely remembered that firemen and soldiers usually put people they’re rescuing on their shoulders, but he was nervous about the blasts still being fired from both sides. He cradled Lance as close to his chest as possible, using the bulk of his own body to shield the smaller paladin.

Purple flashed ahead as Keith’s sword cut down all enemies between Hunk and safety. True to his word, Keith covered them quite well. No one touched Hunk as he carried Lance away from the fighting. Allura joined in as soon as she could, and her whip ensured that no one could even get close. Soon, they’d reached the lions, and Hunk paused.

“Go,” Shiro commanded over the communicators. “Take Yellow and get Lance back to the Castle as quickly as possible.”

Hunk immediately started moving toward Yellow at a brisk clip, but he still asked, “What about Red?”

“We can tow it back, or maybe Keith can fly it long enough to get it back to the Castle,” Shiro answered.

“Okay.” Hunk focused his attention and energy on getting Lance to safety. He ran into Yellow as fast as he could, not slowing down until he reached the cockpit. He laid Lance on the floor as gently as possible and then made his way to the pilot’s seat. Uncaring of any enemy fire they might attract, Hunk piloted Yellow out of the atmosphere, heading straight towards the Castle.

Finally, Hunk landed Yellow in the hangar at the Castle. He immediately got up and turned to Lance, gathering Lance’s limp body into his arms again. He carried his friend into the main of the castle and headed toward the bridge as quickly as he could without jostling Lance.

Lance started to stir, cracking his eyes open for the first time since he’d dropped. “Heyyyy,” he murmured, voice drawn out and quiet, “what’s up?” He sounded honestly confused, and his half-open eyes scanned their surroundings.

“H-hi,” Hunk said, voice broken by a sob of relief. “Y-you’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”

“Everything hurts,” Lance complained, punctuating the statement with a small groan.

Hunk wasn’t sure whether to speed up and reach the healing pods faster or slow down so that he wasn’t jostling Lance as much. He settled for staying at the same pace, hoping that Lance could just hang in there for another minute. “I know,” he said. “What do you remember?”

Lance winced as if the effort to recall what happened physically pained him. Considering how hard he hit his head, that may have actually been the reason. “I remember… flying out in Red… some kind of mission? Not much after that…”

“We were in a fight,” Hunk said gently, hoping he wouldn’t freak Lance out. “You got hurt.”

“Where are the others?”

Hunk hesitated. He didn’t want to tell Lance that the others were still in the fight, but he didn’t want to lie, either. “They’re finishing up,” he finally said. “They’ll be back soon. Don’t worry about it.”

Lance’s expression settled into something between confusion and worry, but he didn’t protest. He stayed relaxed and allowed Hunk to continue carrying him. His eyes slipped shut, and before Hunk could do anything about it, he fell back into unconsciousness.

When they got to the bridge, they found Coran manning the communications, but Hunk noticed that one of the healing pods was already up and ready for someone to be placed in it. On the floor next to it, a white healing suit lay folded up. Hunk laid Lance on the floor, careful to minimize the amount of jostling.

“Sorry,” Hunk said quietly, “but I need to put you in the healing pod suit.” Pushing back the feelings of awkwardness, Hunk began to carefully remove the layers of armor and spacesuit and clothing on Lance until he was stripped down to just his boxers. Hunk was careful not to look too closely as he began to slide Lance’s limbs into the suit.

As he gently took hold of Lance’s right arm, however, he noticed the mark on it out of the corner of his eye, and he glanced at it on impulse without thinking. He immediately looked away, but the word was already stuck in his mind.

_ H-hi. _

Just that. Nothing more. But it came as a shock to Hunk, so much so that he nearly dropped Lance’s arm. Hadn’t that been the nervous greeting that he’d said to him when they met so long ago? Isn’t that how he’d greeted him multiple times throughout the years, always accompanied by Lance’s _ “Heyyyy, what’s up?” _

Their lackluster greetings left room for doubt, but somehow, Hunk just knew it, just felt it right deep down in his soul. Lance was his soulmate. Lance was his _ soulmate. _

Once Lance was in the suit and in the healing pod, Hunk sat down in front of it and sighed heavily. How… how did he not realize this before? He’d considered that they were soulmates back when they first met but… he… he didn’t _ like _ Lance, not in that way. At least, he didn’t think he did. It didn’t really bother him when Lance flirted with girls (and sometimes guys), and while he always wanted to hug or cuddle Lance anytime Lance asked for it, the thought of anything more just… it just… it wasn’t appealing.

Then again, had he _ ever _ felt “that way” about anyone? He remembered Lance and Pidge teasing him about Shay, but she was just a good friend — or at least, that was how Hunk thought of her. He didn’t feel any different about her than he did about Pidge. He _ did _ feel more for Lance, but that was just it. He felt… _ more _, not differently. Lance was his best friend as opposed to just a close friend like the other two, but the thought of dating him just felt weird.

He looked up at where Lance was suspended in the healing pod. He’d have to bring this up with him when he was fully healed. They had a lot to talk about.

~*~*~*~

Lance flopped down on their shared bed, groaning dramatically.

Hunk looked over from where he was sitting at his desk in their room, tinkering with a device he was trying to make improvements on. He knew what it meant when his soulmate came back to their shared house on earth in a mood like this. “I’m guessing your date didn’t go well?”

“This is the last time I ever go on a date with a fan,” Lance swore for what was probably the dozenth time by now.

Instead of pointing that out, Hunk just quietly made his way over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, rubbing Lance’s back soothingly. Lance had gone on dates pretty often since the war ended, both off-planet and here on Earth. So far, no one had stuck around.

After a couple minutes, Lance rolled on his side to face Hunk. “At least I’ve got you.”

“Yeah, you’ve always got me.” Hunk gave him a reassuring smile. He didn’t understand the romance thing or the sex thing at all, but he was happy to let Lance date and hook up with anyone he wanted. At the end of the day, Lance would always be his soulmate and life partner, and that was all Hunk wanted.

A bit of an answering smile crept onto Lance’s face. “You’re the best queerplatonic partner a guy could ask for.”

Hunk took one of Lance’s hands and squeezed it reassuringly. “So are you.”

**Author's Note:**

> This one's been sitting around as a draft for over a year, but I recently got into a queerplatonic relationship with the person who's been my best friend for over three years, so I had some inspiration to finish this.
> 
> Please let me know what you think! Kudos and comments are the fuel every writer runs on.


End file.
